Piece of seating furniture having a telescoping leg-rest element

ABSTRACT

A piece of seating furniture having a seat part, a back part, a chassis, and an at least two-part leg rest pivotably. The parts of the leg rest can be slid relative to each other during the pivoting. A part of the leg rest is formed by a telescoping leg-rest element which is retracted when the leg rest is pivoted in and is extended, in order to increase the length of the leg rest, when the leg rest is pivoted out. A first articulated lever and a second articulated lever are articulated to the seat part, a third articulated lever and a fourth articulated lever are each connected to a fifth articulated lever. A coupling lever and a control lever are articulated to the first articulated lever and/or the second articulated lever and/or to the third articulated lever and/or the fourth articulated lever.

This nonprovisional application is a continuation of InternationalApplication No. PCT/DE2021/000214, which was filed on Dec. 27, 2021, andwhich claims priority to German Patent Application No. 10 2021 004871.7, which was filed in Germany on Sep. 25, 2021, and German PatentApplication No. 20 2020 005 305.8, which was filed in Germany on Dec.28, 2020, which are all herein incorporated by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a piece of seating furniture having atelescoping leg rest element, comprising a seat part, a back part, achassis and a leg rest pivotably connected to the seat part and / or thechassis, wherein the piece of seating furniture is adjustable between asitting and a reclined position, wherein in the sitting position, theleg rest is substantially pivoted below the seat part and, in thereclined position, is pivoted out in front of the seat part in such away that the seat part is extended by the leg rest, wherein the leg restcomprises two rails pivotably connected to the seat part, on which thetelescoping leg rest element is movably attached in the longitudinaldirection of the rails, wherein the leg rest element is retracted whenthe leg rest is pivoted in and extended when the leg rest is pivotedout, in order to increase the length of the leg rest.

Description of the Background Art

Typically, a piece of seating furniture has full-length cushioningextending over the seat part and leg rest. For an attractive design, theadjustment fitting of the piece of seating furniture must be designed insuch a way that the cushioning is tightened when the leg rest isunfolded.

To achieve this, the leg rest must be simultaneously pivoted andextended as it is being unfolded.

From the document WO2014/071924A1 a piece of seating furniture hasbecome known in which this object is achieved by a two-part leg rest,wherein the parts of the leg rest can be slid against each other duringthe pivoting.

In order to pivot the leg rest and move the parts of the pivoted-in legrest, which are retracted in the sitting position, into the extendedposition in the reclined position, a lever adjustment gear is used inthe known piece of seating furniture, wherein in particular in the caseof the variant shown in FIG. 5 of the above-mentioned document, with aleg rest pivoted in approximately parallel to the seat part, it is adisadvantage that the extended parts of the pivoted-out leg rest are notextended far enough, so that the full-length cushioning extending overthe seat part and leg rest is not optimally tightened when the leg restis unfolded.

It is also disadvantageous that, in the approximately vertically alignedintermediate position of the leg rest, the extended parts of thepivoted-out leg rest are already roughly halfway extended, relative tothe pivoted-out end position, which limits the length of the extendedparts of the leg rest since these have to be able to pass over the floorduring the pivoting.

Combined with the above-mentioned disadvantage of the insufficientlyextended parts of the pivoted-out leg rest, the overall length of theunfolded leg rest and thus the reclining comfort for the user islimited.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a piece ofseating furniture in such a way that the reclining comfort of the pieceof seating furniture is improved.

The said object is achieved according to the invention by a piece ofseating furniture having at least a telescoping leg rest element.

Due to the features of the invention, it is possible to provide ageneric piece of seating furniture in which a leg rest element ismovably disposed in the longitudinal direction of two rails jointed onthe seat part in such a way that the vertically aligned leg rest elementis not or only slightly adjusted relative to the rails if the leg restis pivoted out about halfway.

Not until approximately the second half of the pivoting movement of theleg rest from the sitting to the reclined position is the leg restelement slid into an extended position relative to the rails, making theuse of a leg rest element possible which is longer than the one in thepiece of seating furniture known from WO2014/071924A1, which isincorporated herein by reference.

At the same time, an inventive lever geometry of the lever adjustmentgear used to pivot the leg rest and to guide the leg rest element intothe retracted position / extended position provides a larger travel thanthe one of the piece of seating furniture known from WO2014/071924A1, sothat the leg rest element can be extended further relative to the rails.

Further scope of applicability of the present invention will becomeapparent from the detailed description given hereinafter. However, itshould be understood that the detailed description and specificexamples, while indicating preferred embodiments of the invention, aregiven by way of illustration only, since various changes, combinations,and modifications within the spirit and scope of the invention willbecome apparent to those skilled in the art from this detaileddescription.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention will become more fully understood from thedetailed description given hereinbelow and the accompanying drawingswhich are given by way of illustration only, and thus, are not limitiveof the present invention, and wherein:

FIG. 1 shows a piece of seating furniture according to the invention inthe reclined position of the piece of seating furniture;

FIG. 2 shows a piece of seating furniture according to the invention inthe sitting position of the piece of seating furniture;

FIG. 3 shows a piece of seating furniture according to the invention asper FIG. 2 with the sitting angle adjusted;

FIG. 4 shows a piece of seating furniture according to the invention asper FIG. 3 with a partially pivoted leg rest;

FIG. 5 shows a piece of seating furniture according to the inventionwith the seat part adjusted in the angle and a pivoted-out leg rest;

FIG. 6 shows a piece of seating furniture according to the invention asper FIG. 5 in a detailed view; and

FIG. 7 shows a piece of seating furniture according to the invention asper FIG. 2 in a detailed view.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The illustrations in the drawing substantially show only the mechanismof the piece of seating furniture 1 according to the invention omittingparts not of interest here, such as the cushions.

Some of the components mentioned below exist twice due to a largelymirror-image structure of the mechanics of the piece of seatingfurniture 1. While these components are discussed below in the singular,both components are referred to in each case.

A piece of seating furniture 1 according to the invention is formed of achassis 5, a seat part 3, a back part 4 and a leg rest 6 pivotablyconnected to the seat part 3, wherein the piece of seating furniture 1can be slid from a sitting position, when the piece of seating furnitureis shifted to the rear edge of the piece of seating furniture 1 (FIG. 2) and in which the leg rest 6 is substantially pivoted in below the seatpart 3, to a reclined position, when the piece of seating furniture isshifted to the front edge of the piece of seating furniture 1 (FIG. 1 )and in which the leg rest 6 is pivoted out in front of the seat part 3in such a way that the seat part 3 is extended by the leg rest 6.

The terms “front edge of piece of seating furniture” and “rear edge ofthe piece of seating furniture” refer to a person’s perspective whensitting on the piece of seating furniture, their legs pointing forwardand their back pointing rearwards.

The leg rest 6 is designed in two parts, wherein one part of the legrest 6 is formed by two rails 9 pivotally connected to the seat part 3and another part is formed by a telescoping leg rest element 2, which isdisposed in a movable manner in the longitudinal direction of the rails9, wherein the telescoping leg rest element 2 is retracted when the legrest 6 is pivoted in (FIG. 2 , FIG. 3 , FIG. 7 ) and, when the leg rest6 pivoted out, is extended in order to increase the length of the legrest 6 (FIG. 1 , FIG. 5 ).

A first 10 and / or a second articulated lever 11 are / is articulatedto the seat part 3, wherein, in the sitting position of the piece ofseating furniture 1, a longitudinal axis formed between the two endhinge points 18, 19 of at least one of the first 10 and / or the secondarticulated levers 11 is arranged at an angle to the seat part 3 and theend hinge point 18 of said articulated lever facing the seat part 3 ispositioned closer to a vertical plane spanned by the front edge of theseat part 15 than the end hinge point 19 of said articulated leverfacing away from the seat part 3.

At least one of the first 10 and / or the second articulated levers 11has a stop element 28 which, during the pivoting movement of the legrest 6, comes into contact with a stop surface of a seat part tab 29connected to the front area of the seat part 3 (FIG. 2 ).

The terms “the end hinge point facing the seat part” and “the end hingepoint facing away from the seat part” refer to the shortest distancebetween an end hinge point of an articulated lever and the seat part,wherein an end hinge point of an articulated lever facing the seat partis at a shorter distance from the seat part than an end hinge point ofsaid articulated lever facing away from the seat part.

The first 10 and / or the second articulated lever 11 are / is coupledto the telescoping leg rest element 2 in such a way that an adjustmentof one of the first 10 and / or the second articulated levers 11relative to the seat part 3 causes a pivoting out or pivoting in of theleg rest 6 relative to the seat part 3 and a simultaneous shifting ofthe telescoping leg rest element 2 along the rails 9.

The pivoting of the leg rest 6 is carried out according to the inventionby means of a lever adjustment gear hinged on the seat part 3, whereinthe first 10 and the second articulated levers 11 are hinged on the onehand to a front area of the seat part 3 and on the other hand to acoupling lever 16, wherein, in the sitting position of the piece ofseating furniture 1, a third 12 and a fourth articulated lever 13 havean orientation in which a longitudinal axis formed between the two endhinge points 20, 21 of at least one of the third 12 and / or the fourtharticulated levers 13 is arranged at an angle to the seat part 3 andthus, the end hinge point 21 of this articulated lever facing away fromthe seat part 3 is positioned closer to a vertical plane spanned by thefront edge of the seat part 15 than the end hinge point 20 of saidarticulated lever facing the seat part 3, wherein the third 12 and thefourth articulated lever 13 are each connected on the one hand to thecoupling lever 16 and on the other hand, with their end hinge points 20facing the seat part 3 in the sitting position of the piece of seatingfurniture 1, are each connected to a fifth articulated lever 14, whereinone of the third 12 and / or the fourth articulated levers 13 isextended beyond its hinge point at the coupling lever 16 and, at itsfree end, is articulatedly connected to a first end of a control lever17, the second end of which is articulated to a central area of one ofthe first 10 and / or the second articulated levers 11, wherein thefifth articulated lever 14 is connected on the one hand to the third 12and the fourth articulated lever 13 and on the other hand hinged withits free end to the telescoping leg rest element 2.

In this context, “a central area of the articulated lever” does notrefer to the exact geometric center, but to the entire area of thearticulated lever between the two end hinge points.

When the piece of seating furniture 1 is adjusted from the sitting tothe reclined position, the first 10 and / or the second articulatedlever 11 are pivoted in such a way that the coupling lever 16 is pushedforward relative to the seat part 3, wherein at the same time the third12 and the fourth articulated levers 13 are pivoted relative to thecoupling lever 16 and the fifth articulated lever 14 is thereby pushedforward relative to the coupling lever 16.

On the basis of the arrangement of the invention and the accumulatingpivoting movements of the first 10 and / or the second articulatedlevers 11 on the one hand and of the third 12 and / or the fourtharticulated levers 13 on the other, in which, when the piece of seatingfurniture 1 is adjusted from the sitting to the reclined position, oneof the first 10 and / or the second articulated levers 11 is pivoted atan angle of preferably more than 200° relative to one of the third 12and / or the fourth articulated levers 13, a total travel of more than200° is achieved for the lever adjustment gear.

According to the invention, the first 10 and / or the second articulatedlever 11 on the one hand and the third 12 and / or the fourtharticulated lever 13 on the other hand are arranged in such a way thatduring approximately the first half of the pivoting movement of thepiece of seating furniture 1 from the sitting to the reclined position,the coupling lever 16 is lowered relative to the seat part 3, while allsections of the fifth articulated lever 14 are simultaneously raisedrelative to the coupling lever 16.

The lowering of the coupling lever 16 is thus virtually compensated forby a simultaneous raising of the fifth articulated lever 14 relative tothe coupling lever 16, causing the articulation point of the fiftharticulated lever 14 on the telescoping leg rest element 2, during afirst phase of the pivoting from the sitting to the reclined position,to follow an almost linear, or a “flat” movement curve near the frontedge of the seat part 15.

In this way, it is achieved by the invention that during theapproximately first half of the adjustment of the piece of seatingfurniture 1 from the sitting to the reclined position, the leg rest 6 ispivoted and the leg rest element 2 is not or only slightly shiftedrelative to the rails 9 (FIG. 4 ).

Only when the leg rest 6 is further pivoted in the direction of thereclined position of the piece of seating furniture 1 is the leg restelement 2 slid in the longitudinal direction of the rails 9 until theextended end position is reached (FIG. 1 , FIG. 5 , FIG. 6 ).

The inventive effect of a “flat” movement curve of the articulationpoint of the fifth articulated lever 14 on the telescoping leg restelement 2 allows for the use of a much longer leg rest element 2 thanthose in the known, generic piece of seating furniture (see documentWO2014/071924A1), so that, in combination with the above-mentioned largetravel of the lever adjustment gear, an inventive particularly long legsupport surface and thus increased reclining comfort can be provided forthe user in the pivoted-out position of the leg rest 6.

When the piece of seating furniture 1 is adjusted from the sitting tothe reclined position, the seat part 3 is slid forward via a pivot guide26 relative to the chassis 5 and at the same time adjusted ininclination, wherein the pivot guide 26 has a front 7 and a rear controllever 8 which form a four-bar linkage with the seat part 3 and thechassis 5 (FIG. 5 ).

The adjustment movement of the seat part 3 in the direction of the frontedge of the piece of seating furniture 1 is blocked by a stop element 27on the chassis side (FIG. 5 ).

The pivot guide 26 is subjected to force by means of at least onetension spring 25, wherein the tension spring 25 acts between the seatpart 3 and the chassis 5 in such a way that the tension spring 25shortens in the direction of the front edge of the piece of seatingfurniture 1 during the adjustment movement of the seat part 3 (FIG. 2 ,FIG. 6 ).

A linear actuator 23 is coupled with a first end to the chassis 5 andwith a second end to the first 10 and / or the second articulated lever11 via a cross brace 24 connected to the first 10 or the secondarticulated lever 11 (FIG. 6 ).

When the piece of seating furniture 1 is in the starting position or thesitting position, by means of the linear actuator 23 hinged between thechassis 5 and the cross brace 24, the leg rest 6 is held in the pivotedend position by means of the stop element 28 acting between the seatpart tab 29 and the first 10 and / or the second articulated lever 11.

When actuated, the linear actuator 23 generates a linear stroke formedof at least a first and a second partial stroke, wherein the linearactuator 23, by means of the pivot guide 26 with a first partial strokestarting from the sitting position of the piece of seating furniture 1,causes a forward shift of the seat part 3 relative to the chassis and asimultaneous adjustment of the inclination of the seat part 3 until therear handlebar lever 8 of the pivot guide 26 comes into contact with thechassis-side stop element 27 and the pivot guide 26 is thereby blocked,wherein during this first partial stroke of the linear actuator 23 thereis no pivoting out or in of the leg rest 6 relative to the seat part 3(FIG. 3 ).

The tension spring 25 shortens during this first adjustment step andthus supports the adjustment movement of the seat part 3, whereby theseat part 3 is first adjusted relative to the seat part 3 withoutpivoting the leg rest 6.

At the end of the first adjustment step, the front edge of the seat part3 is at a greater distance from the contact plane of the piece ofseating furniture 1 than in the sitting position of the piece of seatingfurniture 1, which means that due to a larger pivoting space beingavailable, it is possible to use a longer leg rest 6.

The further advantage of this first intermediate position of the pieceof seating furniture 1, obtained at the end of the first adjustmentstep, is the option for the user to perform an additional adjustmentfunction, as compared to the piece of seating furniture known fromWO2014/071924A1, also known as the “lounging position” (FIG. 3 ).

Thus, in a structurally simple way, a piece of seating furniture of thepresent invention offers on the one hand the advantage of a longer legrest 6 as compared to the generic piece of seating furniture 1 and thusan improved reclining comfort, and on the other hand the advantage ofimproved sitting comfort due to the user being able to adopt a morerelaxed sitting posture than that in the sitting position of the pieceof seating furniture.

In a second adjustment step of the piece of seating furniture 1 from thesitting to the reclined position effected by a second partial stroke ofthe linear actuator 23, while maintaining the inclination anddisplacement position of the seat part 3 relative to the chassis 5 andmaintaining the position of the back part 4 relative to the seat part 3achieved at the end of the first partial stroke, a pivoting out of theleg rest 6 relative to the seat part 3 is caused until the leg rest 6has reached the pivoted-out end position and the piece of seatingfurniture 1 has thus reached a second intermediate position, also knownas the “relaxation position” (FIG. 5 , FIG. 6 ).

In the reverse adjustment direction, i.e., in the direction of thesitting position of the piece of seating furniture 1, the functionalsequence described above takes place in reverse order: starting from the“relaxation position” of the piece of seating furniture 1, uponactuation of a first partial stroke of the linear actuator 23, the legrest 6 is first pivoted in due to the spring force of the tension spring25 to be overcome until the pivoted-in end position has been reached bymeans of the stop element 28 acting between the seat part tab 29 and thefirst 10 and / or the second articulated lever 11; and upon actuation ofa second partial stroke of the linear actuator 23, the seat part 3 isslid relative to the chassis 5 in the direction of the end edge of thepiece of seating furniture 1, against the spring force of the tensionspring 25, until the sitting position of the piece of seating furniture1 is reached.

The invention being thus described, it will be obvious that the same maybe varied in many ways. Such variations are not to be regarded as adeparture from the spirit and scope of the invention, and all suchmodifications as would be obvious to one skilled in the art are to beincluded within the scope of the following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A piece of seating furniture comprising: a seatpart; a back part; a chassis; and an at least two-part leg restpivotally connected to the seat part and / or to the chassis, whereinparts of the leg rest are adapted to slide relative to each other duringa pivoting, wherein the piece of seating furniture is adjustable betweena sitting and a reclined position, wherein, in the sitting position, theleg rest is essentially pivoted in below the seat part and in thereclined position, is pivoted out in front of the seat part such thatthe seat part is extended by the leg rest, wherein a part of the legrest is formed by a telescoping leg rest element, which is retractedwhen the leg rest is pivoted in and extended, in order to increase alength of the leg rest when the leg rest is pivoted out, wherein, whenthe piece of seating furniture is in the sitting position, a first and /or a second articulated lever are / is articulated to the seat part and/ or to the chassis and a longitudinal axis formed between the two endhinge points of at least one of the first and / or the secondarticulated levers is arranged at an angle to the seat part, an endhinge point of this articulated lever facing the seat part is positionedcloser to a vertical plane spanned from the front edge of the piece ofseating furniture than an end hinge point of said articulated leverfacing away from the seat part, wherein, when the piece of seatingfurniture is in the sitting position, a third and a fourth articulatedlever have an orientation in which a longitudinal axis formed betweenthe two end hinge points of at least one of the third and / or thefourth articulated levers is arranged at an angle to the seat part, anend hinge point of said articulated lever facing away from the seat partis positioned closer to a vertical plane spanned by the front edge ofthe piece of seating furniture than an end hinge point of saidarticulated lever facing the seat part, wherein the third and fourtharticulated levers, with their end hinge points facing the piece ofseating furniture in the sitting position of the piece of seatingfurniture, are each connected to a fifth articulated lever, wherein acoupling lever is articulated to the first and / or to the secondarticulated lever and / or to the third and / or to the fourtharticulated lever, and wherein a control lever is articulated to atleast one of the first, the second, the third and the fourth articulatedlevers, and wherein the fifth articulated lever is connected to thethird and the fourth articulated lever and, with its free end, isarticulated to the telescoping leg rest element.
 2. The piece of seatingfurniture according to claim 1, wherein during a subphase of thepivoting of the piece of seating furniture from the sitting to thereclined position, the coupling lever is lowered relative to the seatpart, while all sections of the fifth articulated lever aresubstantially simultaneously raised relative to the coupling lever. 3.The piece of seating furniture according to claim 1, wherein the firstand the second articulated lever are hinged on the one hand to a frontarea of the seat part and on the other hand to the coupling lever,wherein the third and the fourth articulated lever are hinged to thecoupling lever and to the fifth articulated lever, and wherein one ofthe third and / or the fourth articulated levers extends beyond itsarticulation point on the coupling lever and is articulatedly connected,at its free end, to a first end of the control lever, the second end ofwhich is connected to a central area of one of the first and / or thesecond articulated levers.
 4. The piece of seating furniture accordingto claim 1, wherein the leg rest comprises one or more rails pivotallyconnected to the seat part, on which the telescoping leg rest element isdisposed in a movable manner in the longitudinal direction of the rails,wherein at least one of the first and / or the second articulated leversis coupled to the telescoping leg rest element such that an adjustmentof one of the first and / or the second articulated lever relative tothe seat part causes a pivoting out or in of the leg rest relative tothe seat part and a substantially simultaneous displacement of thetelescoping leg rest element along the rails.
 5. The piece of seatingfurniture according to claim 1, wherein at least one of the first and /or the second articulated levers has a stop element which, during thepivoting movement of the leg rest, comes into contact with a stopsurface of a seat part tab connected to the front part of the piece ofseating furniture.
 6. The piece of seating furniture according to claim1, wherein at least one linear actuator is provided for adjusting theseat part and the leg rest, wherein upon actuation, the linear actuatorgenerates a linear stroke formed of at least one first and one secondpartial stroke, wherein the linear actuator, with a first partialstroke, causes a displacement of the seat part relative to the chassisas well as a substantially simultaneous tilt adjustment of the seatpart, wherein during this first partial stroke of the linear actuatorthere is no pivoting out or in of the leg rest relative to the seatpart, and wherein the linear actuator, with a second partial stroke,causes the leg rest to pivot out or in relative to the seat part as wellas a simultaneous displacement of the telescoping leg rest element. 7.The piece of seating furniture according to claim 1, wherein the linearactuator, with a partial stroke, only causes the leg rest to pivot outor in relative to the seat part without adjusting the seat part relativeto the chassis and without adjusting the back part relative to the seatpart.
 8. The piece of seating furniture according to claim 1, whereinthe linear actuator is coupled with a first end to the chassis and witha second end to the first and / or the second articulated lever via acrossbar connected to the first or the second articulated lever.
 9. Thepiece of seating furniture according to claim 1, wherein the seat part,at least during a subphase of the adjustment of the piece of seatingfurniture from the sitting to the reclined position, is displacedforward relative to the chassis via a pivot guide, and wherein the pivotguide has a front and a rear handlebar lever, which form a four-barlinkage with the seat part and the chassis.
 10. The piece of seatingfurniture according to claim 1, wherein the adjustment movement of theseat part in the direction of the front edge of the piece of seatingfurniture is blocked by a chassis-side stop element.
 11. The piece ofseating furniture according to claim 1, wherein the pivot guide issubjected to force via at least one tension spring, wherein the tensionspring acts between the seat part and the chassis such that the tensionspring shortens in the direction of the front edge of the piece ofseating furniture during the adjustment movement of the seat part.